


Clear Skies

by ancestrallizard



Series: Reign of Arcfire (Dragon-Robin AU) [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Fluff, Gen, baby lucina hangs out with her aunt and nothing bad happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26726812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancestrallizard/pseuds/ancestrallizard
Summary: The memory probably shouldn't be as near and dear to Lucina's heart as it is, considering what happened afterwards.And yet.
Series: Reign of Arcfire (Dragon-Robin AU) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/976416
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Clear Skies

**Author's Note:**

> I finished this, 3 months ago? Didn't post bc was/am having a hard time working up the nerve to write things. But postings a start!
> 
> So. this.

It was such a beautiful day.

Lucina suspected that’s why the memory rooted itself so stubbornly in her subconscious – it was one of the last beautiful days she’d ever known. Thy sky had been blue and warm, and the summer winds pulled a few wispy clouds along the horizon as the sun beamed down on a peaceful kingdom.

Frederick, arms folded behind his back, looked toward the castle, so far away it looked like a toy. “Your father shouldn’t be much longer.”

“He’ll be here soon,” Robin agreed. The dragon rumbled a low laugh. “He was almost as excited as Lucina.”

Lucina, still staring at the sky, didn’t answer. Its closeness enraptured her, just as the soldiers and pegasi training around them enraptured her when they first arrived. There was so much to see, and she was in the perfect position to see it; instead of peeking over a stone windowsill, she sat on the dragon’s back in a specially designed saddle, holding thin leather reins.

“Princess Lucina?” Frederick asked. He sounded like he was frowning.

She looked down, and marveled at how looking down at him made the knight appear like a different person.

The height was beginning to make her nauseous.

“We can wait for your father,” Frederick repeated, “There is no rush.”

“I’ve got all day.” Robin’s deep voice added, almost shocking her off their back.

Lucina almost agreed with them both, but –no! She’d begged to fly with Robin for years, and did all the safety training with teachers on pegasi to prove she wouldn’t fall until she turned eight and her father finally said yes. She couldn’t be afraid now!

“I’m sure.” She croaked. Lucina swallowed, and tried to sound tougher. “I’m ready. Can we go up now?”

Frederick’s frown deepened, but Robin chuckled. The motion made her feel nauseous again. “Well, you heard her.”

Robin lowered themself to the ground, folding their legs and wing-arms folding under their body so Frederick and a wyvern knight could put the final securing touches on Lucina's saddle.

Frederick placed one of the reins in her hand. “Keep these in hand at all times. They will help you stay secure and signal to Robin.”

She nodded. Her jaw felt glued shut. 

Robin dipped their head to the right. “If something’s wrong and you want to land, pull the right reins hard, as hard as you can. And yell loud once we’re in the sky, okay?”

She nodded again, and then realized Robin couldn’t see her up on their back, at the base of their neck. “Yes.”

“I’m flying around the barracks and lake,” They said, “And then straight back. We won’t go too high, but you have to remember to hold on tight.”

Lucina nodded, feeling secure enough to start feeling irritated. She wasn’t a baby. “Okay.”

Frederick was still frowning. He looked at Robin, then Lucina, and sighed. “Very well.” 

He and the wyvern knight retreated what felt like a league away, and Lucina felt very alone.

“”If you want,” Robin murmured, “We can still wait for your father. It’s okay if you’re scared.”

Lucina shook her head. She wanted to show them what she could do, and it wouldn’t look impressive to still be on the ground by the time her father showed up. “No, I’m ready now. Let’s go. Please.”

Robin hummed a low note. “All right then.”

The dragon slowly stood up onto their hind legs. Lucina clutched the reins and saddle as she rose even higher off the ground and her dizziness multiplied. The shadow of Robin’s neck and head blocked out the sun, leaving her cool, almost cold. On either side of her, wings unfurled, huge muscled limbs covered in a mixture of scale, feather, and membrane. Their dark iridescence caught the light and reflecting a muted rainbow of purples, blues and green. Under Robin’s main pair of wings, she saw the smaller, secondary pair unfurl. She’d only ever seen them folded under Robin in the courtyard, or tucked along their side when they walked. It was clear why Frederick and the other knight backed away - Robin's wingspan was easily three of four times the length of the broad-winged pegasus she’d sat astride before.

The dragon flapped their huge wings, sending loose dust and dirt spiraling into miniature windstorms. Lucina clung tighter to the saddle, barely jostled by the movement but still feeling like she would topple to the ground all the same.

She thought Robin would take off then. Instead, they flapped their wings one more time and sank back down to all fours. She let out a gusty sigh of relief.

Her aunt twisted her head around. Lucina saw herself reflected in three shining red eyes. She looked terrified. 

“Still ready?” Robin asked.

Brave. Be brave. “Yeah.”

Robin stared for another moment before nodding. “Hold on.”

Lucina gripped the reins as Robin began to walk, leisurely at first, before picking up speed to enter an odd loping gait. It wasn’t too bad - just like ridding a very, very tall horse. Her shoulders loosened.

Then Robin jumped.

Lucina rocked backwards as the dragon’s wings snapped open with a rush of air as loud as a gale. Their wings flapped hard, pulling them into the sky as Lucina’s stomach plummeted like it was stone.

She screwed her eyes shut, clinging to the saddle as the wind roared past her ears. Robin’s wings flapped ever harder, beating on either side of her like gigantic drums. There were no thoughts of falling, or flying; she was too terrified to think much of anything.

Just as her hands were beginning to sting from the tight grip in the saddle, a warm gust of air swirled around them, pushing away any lingering cold. Robin’s wings stilled, and they stopped rising, though Lucina could still feel them drifting forward. It felt tranquil, like drifting in a boat on a lake.

“Oh, look!” Robin said. “Your father’s here. Can you see him?”

Lucina didn’t respond. 

“Lucina?” Robin asked, “Do you need me to land?”

What? No! They just got there!

Heart in her throat, she opened one eye a tiny sliver, before blinking in amazement.

She was on top of the world.

Robin drifted through the air like a kite, only moving their four wings minutely for small adjustments. Warm gusts of air fluttered the feathers on their spine, as well as Lucina’s hair. It was so still now that she could drink in the sights below without gusts of wind bringing tears to her eyes.

All of Ylissee lay beneath them in a patchwork of woody browns, moss greens, and stone grays, that stretched out to the castle and beyond. On the blurred edge of the horizon were the ridges of mountains she’d only ever seen on maps. It was a world of her imagination made real, when she’d pretend to be a wyvern knight or a pegasus rider at the head of an army.

A few pegasus’ and their riders flew far away from them, a fraction of their true size. The people on the ground were even smaller, like figurines on a game board. Far, far below, she saw Frederick, and riding up beside him was her father.

“Lucina?” Robin asked again.

She shifted the reins to her left hand and waved with her right. “Father! Frederick!”

Whether they heard or saw her, they seemed to notice, because they raised their arms and waved back.

“Should I land soon?”

Lucina stared out at the living painting below. Even if she stayed up for hours, she felt like she’d never see everything. “Can we stay a little longer?”

“Of course.” She couldn’t see her aunt’s face, but was familiar enough with the way her voice lifted to know they were smiling. “Where should we go first?”

Their flight around the lake and the training grounds stuck in her mind because, with her father watching below and Robin with her in the sky, it was the last time she felt safe. The day after, reports began to trickle in of something amiss in the kingdom. An inner darkness was festering, like a hidden wound beginning to rot, waiting to burst and spread its poison. Soon after, Robin left. Soon after, her father died.

But in that moment, she gripped the reins and flew through a bright, clear sky.

It was such a beautiful day.

**Author's Note:**

> This AU has no plot or end goal I just enjoy it bc Dragons


End file.
